Ye Olde Mint / Being a brief description of the first U.S. Mint, established by Congress in the year 1792, at Seventh Street and Sugar Alley (now Filbert Street) Philadelphia

by Frank H. Stewart

UNDOUBTEDLY THE FIRST BRICK BUILDING ERECTED BY ACT OF CONGRESS FOR PUBLIC USE

Y^e OLDE MINT

The first United States mint buildings are indeed historical in more ways than one, and while a number of suggestions have been made for their preservation it is highly probable they will eventually be located by the means of a bronze tablet on the front of the steel and concrete structure in contemplation for the use of the Frank H. Stewart Electric Company, who now occupy the buildings adjoining them on the south and east. The retention of the buildings on the present site is prohibited on account of the great value of the land and its location in the heart of the business section, and their removal by private enterprise to another site unlikely because of the great expense that such removal would entail.

If a few 1804 dollars, which now have a record price of thirty-six hundred dollars each, should be found in the buildings, their removal would be rendered easier, provided they were found before the destruction of the buildings, but this is highly improbable, although there will undoubtedly be a few coins discovered, as there were when the building was erected on the Filbert Street lot on the site of the old mint smelting house, which is contiguous to the Seventh Street lot.

Washington in his first annual address to Congress referred to the importance of uniformity in the currency.

His second annual address urged the importance of the establishment of a mint.

In his third address he spoke of disorders in the existing currency, the scarcity of change, and recommended carrying into effect the resolution already entered into concerning the establishment of a mint; also remarked that measures had been taken for procuring some of the most necessary artists, together with the necessary apparatus.

His fourth annual address referred to employment of artists, both from abroad and at home, to aid in the establishment of the mint. He also stated that provision had been made for the requisite buildings, which were then being put in proper condition, and spoke of a small beginning in the coinage of half “dismes.”